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My mom didn’t just break every dish we had; she had also pulled everything out of the fridge and splattered the contents along the floors and counters All of the cabinets were e, and it looked like she had taken the entire jug of dishwashing liquid and poured it all along the floor It was a htmare that was totally preventable and unnecessary, just like the current state of , naet ether and went upstairs to set the expensive gift fro to take hours to clean the kitchen up, and that was after I checked on my mos would do any good Nothing ever seee

I knocked on Karsen’s door lightly and waited to see if she would respond I kind of hoped she had gone to bed and forgotten about the scene from downstairs, but no such luck I actually heard the lock on the door snick open She was so scared that she had locked herself in her room

“Hey You all right in there?”

Her big brown eyes were so wide in her face it made her look like a cartoon character

“I’lad you’re home Did you see the kitchen?”

I nodded and reached out to fluff her soft hair

“Yeah Don’t worry about it, sprite I’ll get it cleaned up”

She shook her head slowly from side to side and I saw her bottom lip quiver

“Dad just ignored the whole thing, Brysen He just shut the door to his office and let her rant and rave like nothing was going on I screamed at him to help, but he just wouldn’t”

Of course he wouldn’t He was too busy locked away behind his door pretending like he didn’t have a solid hand in the steady decline that was going on inside the walls of this house And we all knew the booze had to coh the front door so a blind eye to his part in the devastation of this family

“I think it’s hard for hi with each other”

That was bullshit but I hoped Karsen loved h to let it slide

“How much ti to the choir It still felt like forever to her and she had s really were She had no clue how long this year felt like to me

“It’ll be fine, Karsen Just finish your homework Stay on top of your schoolwork so you can be valedictorian and get a full ride to college Once you’re out there in the real world, everything that happens here is just secondary and you get to focus on building your own life the way you want it”

I took a step back and gave her a sad srabbed my wrist Sorinned at me